Abstract
Biorefineries are central facilities for the adoption of bioeconomy to countries like Colombia, enhancing production chains for agricultural products like avocado. The environmental impacts of several avocado biorefinery configurations have been studied, however, the design of cascade configurations have been neglected. For this reason, an environmental analysis was carried out for an avocado hard waste cascade biorefinery using WARGUI. The process data was extracted from a simulation tool. The avocado cascade biorefinery demonstrated a good environmental performance, as it had negatives rates for output and generation of PEI. As a green process, the topology showed promising results compared to similar processes. Toxicological impacts were negligible, although inclusion of product streams slightly increased total PEI due to their intrinsic footprint (especially biofilm due to formation agents). Furthermore, energy need to be closely analysed as it can contribute strongly to PEI emission, also, fuel selection significantly influenced atmospheric impacts, with coal exhibiting the highest burdens and gas the lowest, particularly in GWP and AP categories. Moreover, the implementation of cleaner fuels and resource efficiency strategies, such as solvent recovery and mass integration, is essential to further improve process sustainability.
